October truck sales boast highest month-over-month gain in 20 months

The Peterbilt nameplate had the largest month-over-month increase in October with sales of 2,498 conpared with 1,900 in September.

The Trucker Staff

11/12/2013

October sales of U.S. Class 8 trucks posted the second highest month-over-month gain in the past 20 months, according to data released by Ward’s Automotive.

A total of 17,985 Class 8 trucks were sold in October compared with 16,125 in September for an 11.5 percent gain. The only other month to record that large a gain during the 20-month time period was April 2013, when sales increased 19.4 percent over the March total of 13,101.

Unfortunately, the October sales boost did little to give hope to a year-over-year increase.

The total 2013 sales through the first 10 months was 150,578, or 7.2 percent lower than the same period last year when 162,215 trucks were sold.

October sales of the Freightliner, Mack, International and Kenworth nameplates were the best of any monthly total in 2013.

Peterbilt’s 31.5 month-over-month increase topped all nameplates with sales of over 300 vehicles; International was second with a 26.3 increase and Freightliner third with a 16.1 increase.

Freightliner continues to lead in market share at 32.5 percent in October and 37.1 percent for the year-to-date share.